On Wednesday March 24th students gathered in Dunn Meadow in an effort to get IU to become carbon neutral by 2040. The protest titled, “Keep the Promise IU” based their actions around IU’s promise to prepare students to enter the world. However, in the midst of a changing climate they believe that IU needs to take actions to create a greener and healthier environment for students’ futures.
IU student Cooper Skyes shares why he decided to come to the protest
While it may seem difficult, becoming carbon neutral is an achievable goal and is even being attempted by entire cities. For example, Denmark’s capital Copenhagen is working to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.
The protest began in Dunn Meadow where attendees were able to create and collect protest signs. There was also a station for contact tracing to ensure students were safe from spreading the virus. Here multiple speeches were given introducing why this protest is important. One of the speeches was from Students for a New Green World president Beverly Thompson where she spoke about the disproportionate climate effects on people of color. After the speeches they then moved to the open air venue at Dunn Meadow where they enjoyed live music from Bloomington’s Delta Music Club.
After the music there were more speeches. One of them was given by IU student Carter Hays.
Carter Hays’ speech at the Keep the Promise IU protest.
They then proceed to walk to the Sample Gates where they continue with speeches. To conclude the protest and to make their statement heard to IU they moved to Bryant Hall where the Office of the Provost is located. Here they read off a list of demands and taped the resolution to the front door of Bryant hall because they had locked their doors.
This event was created by Students for a New Green World with help from IU Student Government and other organizations on campus. They had been working on organizing the protest and creating the carbon neutrality resolution since January. The resolution for carbon neutrality was unanimously passed by IUSG. Some of the demands included in the resolution was for IU to produce a yearly report about progress toward carbon neutrality, reduce the amount of emissions from 2019 by 50% in 2030 and to become fully carbon neutral by 2040. However, even though the resolution was approved it doesn’t mean IU needs to follow through.
To help persuade IU they also created a petition that currently has over 300 signatures. If you weren’t able to make it to the protest but still want to participate, signing the petition can be a good way to help.
